Airport Factions Unite Over Firm’s Eviction

VAN NUYS — Two months after they were slapped with an eviction notice, owners of an obscure aviation specialty business at Van Nuys Airport have emerged as a cause celebre.

Groups that normally squabble among themselves--airport tenants, business boosters, anti-noise critics and homeowners--have joined forces in demanding that the powerfully independent Los Angeles Department of Airports explain its action against Syncro Aircraft Interiors.

In an unprecedented move taken to quiet the uproar, airport commissioners have agreed to hold a public hearing on the issue. “We’re being bombarded with faxes,” said Patricia Schnegg, commission vice president, who last week temporarily stayed eviction proceedings that required Syncro to be out by today.

“We’ve been getting a lot of community calls on Syncro,” she said, “and with this much energy and notoriety, we felt it would be prudent to give Syncro an opportunity to respond to specific issues that the city attorney has.” A hearing date has not yet been set.

It is precisely the mysterious nature of the eviction proceedings against Synchro that has united the company’s defenders, who say it cannot be determined whether the attempted eviction is an isolated landlord-tenant dispute or a harbinger of new city policies for airport tenants that will affect others as well.

Because the Department of Airports has given no reason for its action against Syncro, the case has spurred all manner of sinister speculation.

Some critics accuse airport chiefs of working secretly to turn the Syncro hangar over to a politically connected business that plans to outfit Boeing 737 jets at Van Nuys.

Others accuse the city attorney’s office of carrying out a personal vendetta against Syncro.

There is even speculation that the department wants to grab Syncro’s lucrative side business of providing hangar space to film companies. For the latter reason, commission President Dan Garcia, senior vice president of real estate for Warner Bros., has excused himself from the proceedings, citing a potential conflict of interest.

The public outcry reached a fever pitch this month at a meeting of the Van Nuys Airport Citizens Advisory Council.

The 14-member appointed panel bombarded Bret Lobner, senior assistant city attorney and the airport’s veteran legal advisor, with questions about the eviction. Lobner repeatedly refused to answer, citing potential litigation.

Panel members and an overflow crowd of spectators--mostly Syncro supporters--left the meeting frustrated and angry. Advisory Council President Bob Jackson complained, “We’re gravitating in a great big whirlpool. For God’s sake, lets get down to running this place on a businesslike basis.”

Syncro’s owners, Ed and Barbara Cesar, said they are uncertain why airport officials have singled them out. The closest thing to an explanation, they say, may stem from a disagreement between Syncro and the department over repairs the firm made to a World War II-era hangar owned by the airport.

Like many of the tenants at the airport, Syncro--which is based in a portion of a three-acre hangar--has been on a month-to-month lease for six years. Few long-term leases have been signed for the past decade while the airport department ponders the adoption of a master plan for development of the airport.

Saying they lacked funds to restore the dilapidated hangar, airport officials in 1992 granted Syncro permission to make repairs in exchange for rent credits, according to airport documents, officials and the Cesars. The repairs were extensive and expensive, said Ed Cesar. The whole roof, for instance, needed to be patched--rather than just the portion leased by Syncro--in order to stop the leaks, he said. They also replaced electrical conduits, walls and flooring and painted the building, restoring the 1940s appearance.

Following repairs, Syncro subleased a portion of the building to four other aviation tenants. Two years ago, Syncro also began leasing portions of the hanger for filming, passing a share of the $38,000 monthly sublet fee on to the airport.

Two cavernous spaces have been lined with black curtains, made by Syncro. Scaled-down airplanes were suspended from ceiling beams for a movie, “Air Force One,” that just finished filming there. An elaborate dance ballroom is now being assembled for another film starring Vanessa Williams, said Barbara Cesar.

Ed Cesar said all of the filming has been authorized by the airport, which issues permits.

The Cesars have steadily built their mom-and-pop business since 1983, refurbishing private airplanes for well-heeled clients. They now employ about two dozen workers and say their business has grown too large to just pick up and move to another airport.

In 1995, several years after hangar repairs were made, airport officials told the Cesars they would have to file a claim for all of the repair work and provide documentation.

Ed Cesar admits his bookkeeping was poor and that he did not have records for all of the work, including some that was done in trade for goods and services. Nevertheless, he submitted a claim for $319,000--an amount that some construction experts and city officials say is less than the value of the work performed.

The city attorney’s office conducted an investigation and found some discrepancies in Syncro’s claim, such as payments to a roofer who told investigators the amount was inflated. Last summer, the city attorney’s office sought a criminal complaint against the Cesars alleging fraud, but the charges were rejected by the district attorney’s office.

Last week, the Cesars hired former Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, who heads a Century City litigation firm, to represent them in the eviction battle.